MODERN ICBM'S

Today's
ICBMs reportedly can strike within a few hundred feet of their targets
after traveling thousands of miles through space. Such accuracy makes
it possible to use a less powerful warhead, yet still be assured of
destroying a target. A single missile can also carry multiple warheads,
each aimed at a different target. A Minuteman III could have 3 nuclear
warheads, as shown here; the Peacekeeper MX had 10.

MISSILE THREAT

By
the 1970s multiple warheads and improved missile accuracy caused growing
concern about a "first strike" that would destroy one side's
missiles and bombers before they could be used to strike back. Both
sides feared that a crisis might escalate into such a decisive attack.
This threat caused a huge growth in the number of Soviet and American
missiles and later led to arms limitation treaties. With the end of
the Cold War, single warheads are replacing multiple ones, and nuclear
arsenals are being reduced.